Improving Your Stewarding Department

Author: Matthew J. Goudge

Do you want to improve the flow of your restaurant kitchen? Are you looking for ways on how to go about achieving such improvement? If you are, then here are four things that you should ask yourself and address to improve your restaurant flow, and it all starts with the stewarding department.

Why Start with the Stewarding Department?

A good flow starts at the back of the restaurant. Make your kitchen more orderly and organized, and the chefs can do their jobs quickly. The better the chefs move about in the kitchen, the easier the foods will be cooked, and the faster the servers can serve the customers. Of course, to achieve all, you should start at the Stewarding Department. They are, after all, the so-called backbone of the kitchen, without which you can expect chaos.

The Four Things to Consider

As stated above, there are four things that you will need to ask yourself as well as address and give importance to if you are after a smooth flow in the kitchen. These are:

1. Stewarding department service monitor. Do you have someone who monitors the services of the stewarding department? If you do, is he doing it on a regular basis? If not, you should appoint one. A staff who can monitor the department's service will give you an idea of what needs improvement in all your kitchen staff.
2. Customer feedback. Do you have someone who monitors customer feedbacks? Do you have a program that gathers customer feedbacks? If not, then it is recommended that you implement a customer feedback program into your restaurant. You can print out a simple feedback form template and place it somewhere where it is easily seen, and you can have someone gather it at the end of the day for review. This is a good way to listen to your diners as well as improve your service.
3. Acknowledgement of staff's efforts. Do you praise your staff if they did well? Or do you simply take your stewarding department for granted? Remember, nothing inspires others to give the best that he can than to acknowledge his good efforts, and this is extremely true in the stewarding department. Give your stewarding department the acknowledgement that it deserves for a job well done, and you can expect better quality in service. If they make a mistake, address the issue in a positive way, rather than a negative way, and the response will be just as positive.
4. Staff Adaptability. Does your stewarding department have the ability to adapt quickly to changes and challenges? Can they take accountability for errors and mistakes? If not, then actively engage them to exchange ideas on what needs to be done to correct the common errors and mistakes done in the stewarding department. Ask them for their opinions, know how they feel about working in your kitchens, and know if your stewarding department has aligned values.

These are just some of the things that you can do to improve your restaurant. You should always stress the importance of having teamwork because only if there is teamwork can a restaurant become a success.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/improving-your-stewarding-department-4662064.html

About the Author

Chef Matthew, the owner of ProChef360 Blog, is an expert in culinary arts.
He is after all an outstanding chef, having had worked in some of the finest resorts, hotels and restaurants in the world.
His interest, however, in social media was awakened when he started his own websites.
Over the years, he took it upon himself to learn everything he can about social media.